>Esmaili, the Head of Iran’s Prison Organizations – "There Are No Political Prisoners in Iran."

Thursday, October 7th, 2010 – HRANA reports that the head of Iran’s Prison Organizations, Esmaili, stated that there are no political prisoners in Iran, addiing: “These individuals are in prison as a result of threatening the national security of our country and their numbers are very limited.”

To date, many government officials in Iran have unanimously denied the existence of political prisoners. According to ISNA Esmaili, while stating that the crime rate in Iran is very low emphasized: “The percentage of female prisoners is only 3.5%, while the rate for male prisoners has reached 96.5%.” Esmaili attributed the low percentage of female prisoners to Islamic precedent.

Esmaili added: “We control the prison environment by using closed circuit cameras. We are working hard to ensure that this type of control is extended to outside the prison as well.” Esmaili did not elaborate however, on how they plan to further control activities outside the prisons.

Despite numerous reports on dire sanitary and health conditions within the prisons, Esmaili reiterated that he considers the sanitary and health conditions in prisons within the acceptable limit.

With regards to a prisoner’s right to temporary leave from prison Esmaili stated: “The criteria upon which prisoners are allowed to leave prison is predefined. Each prisoner is allowed to leave prison temporarily after serving 1/6 of their prison sentence. It is worth mentioning that Esmaili made this claim despite the fact that there are prisoners across Iran’s prisons who have not been granted temporary leave of absence despite having served 10 – 15 years in prison.